Keep this study honest

January 5, 2013

A study being conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency will, in time, either vindicate the gas industry or provide ammunition for environmental radicals.

But "fracking," as it is known by many, has been in use for decades to fracture rock formations containing gas and oil. During that time we have heard of no serious instances of water pollution resulting from fracking.

Information from companies that have fracked nearly 25,000 wells is being studied. Data from water wells is being considered. Reports on chemicals used in thousands of fracked wells are being analyzed. That, in essence, was the EPA's progress report.

Neither EPA officials nor Obama should allow environmental radicals to sway the study or policy regarding gas and oil drilling. As the EPA itself noted in its progress report, gas will play a key role in the nation's clean energy future. Allowing biases - and that is the correct word - against it to deprive Americans of a plentiful, clean, relatively inexpensive source of fuel would be exceedingly unwise.